How To Avoid Being Overwhelmed And Exhausted

As entrepreneurs, your business is incredibly important to you, and there is no official “off” switch. You get to decide when you are working and when you are not. In some ways, this is a double-edged sword. Brigid Schulte, an award-winning journalist and New York Times author ofOverwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has The Time, found through her research that there are tools to manage the incredible overwhelm and exhaustion that many American workers and parents face today. I recently had the honor of sitting down with her and talking about so-called time contamination—the universal affliction also known as “work creep.”

Here are seven tips to make your life somewhat easier that came out of our conversation:

1. Recognize and Release the Pressure.

“You are not alone,” Brigid told me. “Recognize you are not alone in struggling with this. You are not a failure. Start to notice those pressures that are out there to over work, over do, over schedule your kids, over parent your kids. This is an act of mindfulness, to notice the inadequacy you are feeling and then turn down the volume. Don’t listen to it even though you know it’s there. Take a breath.”

As an entrepreneur, notice when you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself to grow your company at an accelerated rate.

When I worked in private equity, we had entrepreneurs come through every week to pitch their businesses to us. One company in particular was raising Series C funding at such a high valuation that the partner at my firm took me aside and said “That guy doesn’t even realize the treadmill he’s putting himself on.” Once you raise outside capital at a high valuation, you are putting yourself on an accelerated path to growth – which can be a great thing, but the downside is you are suddenly setting yourself up for failure if you don’t hit very aggressive targets. Consider bootstrapping your business and taking a more relaxed approach. What if instead of shooting for the IPO, you kept things simple with three virtual employees and a solid annual income? Can you reframe success to include a situation in which you still hit your target but you do it three years later, and enjoy lots of time with family and friends in the meanwhile?

2. Align With Your Values.

Set your priorities, and make choices aligned with your values. Brigid; “The pressure won’t go away. That’s why it is important to pause and to get to know yourself; to know your own internal compass.” Here is a great resource to help you get clear on your priorities with this simple yet powerful Values Exercise.

As an entrepreneur, YOU get to decide how much time YOU devote to YOUR business versus the other areas of your life, which means being clear on your priorities is even more vital. It’s easy to become a workaholic or to build a business that is not sustainable because you’ve made too many personal sacrifices in the process. Look at Chip Conley with Joie de Vivre, he claims that he felt as though he had imprisoned himself while building this incredibly successful company. Remember that it is the journey, not the destination that truly matters. And make sure you are clear on your values so that you can enjoy the journey.

3. Cultivate Leisure Time.

Brigid also advises how important it is to invest in PLAY and unstructured time. See if you can let go of busy as a status symbol and invest in creativity instead. “Know that you need leisure; you need downtime. You really need to have an uncluttered mind. This is how you will achieve creativity and it will make you better at everything you do.”

As an entrepreneur, it is vital that you practice self-care. Crushing yourself to build a company is not heroic and it’s not sustainable. Plus, neuroscience has lots of evidence that all the big “Aha” moments come when we’re in a state of leisure or play. You’re more likely to have a breakthrough idea in the shower or on a hike than while sitting in front of your computer, so why not create more moments like that?

4. Simplify Your To-Do List.

“Pick one thing a day that is most important to you and then do it first,” Brigid says. “Then you have a win for the rest of the day. You did your one thing where you will never do your 75 things. Many of the most productive people that I’ve talked to like to be creative in the morning and then set meetings for the afternoon when their energy has dropped a bit. Find that time that you have the most energy and then shut everything else down.”

When you are running your own business, it feels as if there is ALWAYS more to be done. In order to let go of the exhaustion and overwhelm, you need to start feeling as though you have accomplished enough at the end of each day. Having one priority thing To Do and doing it is a great way to achieve this sense of accomplishment. Here is some advice on how to make your To Do list work for YOU.